By any measurement, Davy Jones did not have a successful solo career. His self-titled 1971 LP was designed to kickstart his post-Monkees life, but it peaked at Number 205 on the charts before vanishing without a trace. His only single to appear on the Hot 100 was a cover of Neil Sedaka’s “Rainy Jane,” and it never went higher than Number 52. A few years later he launched the Golden Hits of the Monkees tour with Micky Dolenz, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, playing the old hits at a series of state fairs and theme parks all over America. He was just 30 years old, but already a relic of a bygone age.

None of this was clear to The Brady Bunch viewers. In the universe of the show, he was still a humongous superstar that caused teenage girls to squeal on sight like it was still 1967. He famously appeared on the December 10th, 1971 episode, “Getting Davy Jones,” in which Marcia Brady, the president of the local Davy Jones fan club, foolishly promises her school that he’ll play the senior prom. She somehow gets into a studio to watch him record “Girl,” and he overhears her pleas through his headphones, ultimately stopping by the Brady’s house at the last minute to save the day. “There is one little problem,” he told her. “Well, I don’t have a date. Do you know a girl that would like to go with me?” Did she ever!

Oddly enough, the single appearance on the The Brady Bunch wound up being the most famous thing he ever did outside of the Monkees, largely due to endless reruns and the fact Marcia said “Davy Jones” roughly 500 times. He even did “Girl” at a bunch of Monkees reunion concerts, since it was so well known due to the episode. He revived the song and cameo in the 1995 The Brady BunchMovie, where it was even more absurd that a high school girl would be president of a Davy Jones fan club. That time around, he did a grungy version of the song that fit better with the times.

“Davy was a beautiful soul who spread love and goodness around the world,” Brady Bunch actress Maureen McCormick said when he died in 2012. “He filled our lives with happiness, music and joy. He will live on in our hearts forever. May he rest in peace.”